diff --git a/assets/build/patches/0003-fix_preinstall.mjs-to-avoid-removing-node_modules_dir.patch b/assets/build/patches/0003-fix_preinstall.mjs-to-avoid-removing-node_modules_dir.patch
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a5646ff3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/assets/build/patches/0003-fix_preinstall.mjs-to-avoid-removing-node_modules_dir.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+diff --git a/scripts/frontend/preinstall.mjs b/scripts/frontend/preinstall.mjs
+index 09d980344eac..b1514e803b75 100644
+--- a/scripts/frontend/preinstall.mjs
++++ b/scripts/frontend/preinstall.mjs
+@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
+ import { dirname, join } from 'node:path';
+ import { fileURLToPath } from 'node:url';
+-import { readFile, rm } from 'node:fs/promises';
++import { readdir, readFile, rm, stat } from 'node:fs/promises';
+ 
+ const ROOT_PATH = join(dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url)), '..', '..');
+ const NODE_MODULES = join(ROOT_PATH, 'node_modules');
+@@ -55,5 +55,14 @@ if (!arraysHaveSameItems(prevTopLevelPatterns, currentTopLevelPatterns)) {
+   console.error(
+     '[WARNING] package.json changed significantly. Removing node_modules to be sure there are no problems.',
+   );
+-  await rm(NODE_MODULES, { recursive: true, force: true });
++  // sameersbn/gitlab : avoid removing NODE_MODULES directly, iterate its content instead
++  // The path NODE_MODULES is declared as docker volume - always busy so that cannot be removed
++  // before iterating, check if the directory exists
++  const isDirectory = await stat(NODE_MODULES).then((stat) => stat.isDirectory()).catch(() => false);
++  if(isDirectory) {
++      for (const dir_ent of await readdir(NODE_MODULES, { withFileTypes: true})) {
++      const to_remove = join(NODE_MODULES, dir_ent.name);
++      await rm(to_remove, { recursive: true, force: true });
++    }
++  }
+ }